


Faultline

by bgd_thrifty



Series: Read Between the Lines [2]
Category: Captain America (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern: No Powers, Car Accidents, Gen, Implied/Referenced Abuse, M/M, Pre-Relationship, Pre-Serum Steve Rogers, Self-Destruction, implied eating disorder
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-17
Updated: 2014-09-17
Packaged: 2018-02-17 19:52:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 485
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2321327
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bgd_thrifty/pseuds/bgd_thrifty
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <em>And to think that stunt only cost Bucky his arm.</em>
</p><p> </p><p>A brief look into what made Steve and Bucky the way they are in <a href="http://archiveofourown.org/works/2319260">It's all Implied</a>.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Steve

**Author's Note:**

> I was so boosted by the kudos I received on the first part of the series that I was inspired to write a little bit of Steve and Bucky's background in this 'verse. I've tried not too give too much away too early!

When Steve was younger, he was sick. Sicker than he is now, although others (Sam, Bucky, Peggy, and any number of his other friends) might disagree. But for a good while, he was on steroids, and that’s what Steve thinks started everything. The drugs were worse than the frequent asthma attacks. They were worse than his body deciding to attack him every now and again and land him in hospital.

He still has the pictures from back then, when he was a kid. Couldn’t bear to throw away anything that had him and his ma together. She’d look so sunny with her bright smiles (to reassure him, even until the end) but then there’d be him. Bloated and swollen, skin tight, red and unable to cope with the weight he gained. He was on and off steroids for years and while he knows he doesn’t look like that now, he can still remember how awful he looked. He remembers how sick the drugs made him feel until nausea and vomiting and being hungry all the time seemed like part of normal life. That’s stayed with him.

When Peggy first saw the pictures, she burst out laughing. ‘You look like Humpty Dumpty!’ she’d said, laughing through tears. Steve had smiled grimly and closed the photo album. He hadn’t had a response. But Peggy wasn’t laughing the first time she found him passed out in the kitchen, weak, exhausted and with nothing in his fridge. She was the one speechless that time.

Now when he goes to hospital, it’s not because of the asthma or the inflammation. It’s not for scoliosis or his hearing or sinusitis. It’s for anaemia. His heart. His bones. It’s for things he did to himself by himself. His life, his fault.


	2. Bucky

Bucky didn’t run away when he was eighteen, but he never went home either. Everyone was always on his case about college and careers when they all knew that since Dad died, there was no money to send anyone anywhere. At first, it was fun. Bucky slept on the floors of strangers he found on the internet and well, what his ma didn’t know couldn’t hurt her. He fucked guys, he fucked girls and generally had the time of his life. But it didn’t last for long. Not when he thinks about all the shit he’s had to put up with since then.

Zola. That’s all Bucky needs to get defensive. Any more detail and he won’t just clam up, he’ll lash out. Doesn’t matter who. Zola is the guy that took him in and fucked him up. He’s the guy that saved his life and then ruined it. Bucky’s not one to hold grudges, though. He left that one behind when he rammed a tree with Zola riding shotgun and gave the doctor a few more things to think about.

And to think that stunt only cost Bucky his arm.


End file.
